Christmas, FL ~ Orlando Wetlands Take 2

Purple Gallinule

Another great visit to Orlando Wetlands

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

Purple Gallinule

Tri-colored Heron

Great Blue

American Alligator keeping his eye on us

Anhinga - female

Glossy Ibis

Savannah Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Another big American Alligator

And another one

Snowy Egret 

White Ibis

Belted Kingfisher

Red-shouldered Hawk

4 baby alligators

Momma alligator

 

Viera Wetlands, FL

My favorite bird of the day ~ Wilson Snipe

Everybody's just hanging out

Nesting time for the Sandhill Cranes

Limpkin

Savannah Sparrow having some lunch

Nesting Great Blue Herons

Anhinga - male

Osprey

Another loop around ~ Savannah NWR, SC

Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly

Today I decided to also check the main headquarters of the NWR as they often have nice displays that are set up for you to learn about nature.  I didn't see one at this headquarters but did walk a trail and sat by there feeders a while .  I also checked out some impoundments for ducks as they suggested.  I ended with 37 species of birds and 4 butterfly species.  This is a refuge I would visit again in the future.

Black Swallowtail Butterfly

Blue-winged Teal (Drake left & Hen right)

Savannah Sparrow feeding

Northern Mockingbird

American Coot

Cape May County ~ Two Mile Beach

There was a storm over the past few days that came with high tides and high winds so off we went to the beach to see what shells had been pushed onshore.  There were Whelk shells by the hundreds --some with critters living inside and some without the critters.  We also saw a Savannah Sparrow fedding along the edge of the dunes where sand has been lost from the storm.

Palm Desert, CA

The surprise for today was seeing this Belted Kingfisher and a Foster's Tern fishing in the pond in front of the clubhouse.  There were 2 Savannah Sparrow on the greens and an immature Vermilion Flycatcher.  The first three birds are new birds for this location.

Belted Kingfisher

Vermilion Flycatcher

Savannah Sparrow

Florida ~ Fort DeSoto

One of my motivating factors in visiting the Tampa area was the chance to visit Fort DeSoto.  Looking at all of the pictures taken there make me envious of the great and different birds than what we see here in Cape May County.  I was disappointed to go to the park this AM and find the North Beach is closed because they are making a movie there.  We did get to see the Shorebird Restoration Area.  Among the shorebirds we saw a Reddish Egret (life bird) which was a target bird for me plus a Long-billed Curlew, a species I really love. Some of the other shorebirds we saw were Western Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Piping Plovers, Wilson Plovers and Snowy Plovers.  An added bonus was a group of Magnificent Frigatebirds flying over the causeway as we left the park.

Reddish Egret

Long-billed Curlew

Wilson's Plover

White Ibis having lunch

Magnificent Frigatebird

Birding ~ Cape May Point State Park

Killdeer

Savannah Sparrow

Birding Cox Hall Creek WMA

This morning I went birding with a friend at Cox Hall Creek WMA.  We traversed the fields seeing about 30 species of birds.  His goal bird was a Red-headed Woodpeckers which we didn't to see.  We saw all kinds of Sparrows - Field (lifer),  Savannah (lifer),  Chipping, White-throated,

   Savannah Sparrow (left)

Eastern Bluebird (right)